State your "epiphany moment " for leaving the WT

by caliber 51 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  lifeisgood

  there were 5 issues for me.

  1. The convention parking money rip off. The governing body ripped off the convention centers for parking money by lying to them and telling them that we don't charge for parking, and then force the JWs to pay for parking in the Kingdom Hall.

  2. The mandatory voluntary literature donation. We were told in express terms, "When you pick up your literature make a donation to cover its costs, then when you place literature in the field, 'ask' the householder for a 'voluntary' donation". All of this was done because an evangelist lost a court case over sales tax on church goods sales.

  3. I could not stomach going in field service. I love talking to people and I love helping people. I just could not go in field service and I felt very very guilty, bad, an enemy of God over it due to the WTBTS lies.

  4. The Bible is a collection of fairy tales, lies told to hide or justify immense cruelty committed by the Israelites, and half truths. The Witnesses teach a lot of things which are just plain retarded, such as the Noah's ark story is true, the creation story is true, etc.

  5. There was never any option of actually helping people materially. I tried to get this done, to the point of disrupting meetings. The elders simply could not do anything other than send money to New York. One thing that made me angry enough to stand up in the hall and refuse to sit down was when they were passing a resolution to raise a huge amount of money for new RVs and new trucks for the District Overseer and Circuit Overseer, when their existing RVs and trucks were just fine, while we had desperately poor, elderly sisters that needed our help. For making this plea to actually help people, I was labeled a 'trouble maker'.

  I HATE the watchtower bible and tract society. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM
• 

  CoonDawg

  lifeisgood - your number 5 always bothered me. My sister had been the recipient of free medical care for a heart issue, courtesy of the Children's Miracle Network. I was dumbfounded that the society actively discouraged giving to charitable organizations, even though it was apparently okay to take advantage of these groups resources. It was one of the things I began before I really started my exit - participating in giving to charitable groups - good will donations instead of a yard sale...even giving to the Salvation Army bell ringers at christmas. On what planet is charitable giving a thing to be discouraged?
• 

  flipper

  CAL- My epiphany moment came in late 2003 when my druggie non-witness ( then wife ) left me . I didn't want to put my teenage JW daughters at risk due to the wife's dangerous personality and Methamphetamine addiction. The elders told me that I should get back with the wife and if my teenage daughters wanted to come up and visit- to go visit them in a neutral location like a park so my wife wouldn't be uncomfortable with the scene. At that point a light bulb flashed off in my mind telling me there was NO WAY these guys were appointed by holy spirit if they were favoring a drug addict over my daughters. AND - It showed me they cared little to not at all over the safety of my daughters recommending I get back with an angry Meth addicted person who would put my daughters in harms way.

  I went to my seat, picked up my books and walked out before the meeting quitting cold turkey- never attended again. Best decision I ever made outside of marrying Mrs. Flipper a few years later. Peace out, Mr. Flipper
• 

  Giordano

  Totaly tragic and senseless!

  VISALIA -- Stunned friends and co-workers on Friday mourned the loss of a family who died after an ex-convict ran a red light and crashed into their car during a high-speed chase.

  Meanwhile, Tulare County sheriff's authorities said Friday they have opened an investigation into whether department policy was followed during the pursuit of motorist Erick Joel Head prior to the crash.

  The collision at Akers Street and Caldwell Avenue took the lives of Ruben Mendoza, 52, his wife Gloria Mendoza, 54, and their son Ruben Mendoza Jr., 17, of Visalia, police said.

  Head, 32, of Visalia is being held at the Tulare County Main Jail on charges of evading arrest and a parole violation. He suffered minor injuries in the crash.

  Head was sentenced to two years in prison in 2007 for methamphetamine and marijuana possession, and has a felony record for burglary, car theft and drug possession going back several years, according to court records.
• 

  Giordano

  Sorry the above got posted on the wrong thread
• 

  Was New Boy

  I was working on my car in the factory {bld. 1} on friday Oct. 31 1973, when all hell broke loose, the fire alarm in bld. 4 went off at about 9:30. The night watchman could find nothing. Monday we were all coming back from lunch, I was taking passengers up the east freight elevator when we saw fire trucks behind bld. 4. There to our surprize, they were taking the stiff body of James Olsen out of the bushs. Tom Combs {overseer of 4th job press} said "he MUST have done something REALLY bad to have killed himself!" Norm Brecky {overseer of the 5th floor ink room} said "I'm glad he jumped off the back of bld. 4, we don't need the publicity" --------DEAD and already judged! The Thursday before Oct. 30th I saw him on my elevator, fighting back the tears, "whats wrong?" I asked. He said "he just couldn't take in any more and left bethel a week ago,{A.W.O.L} went home---------and told his parents. They said "You are a reproach to us the family, and the organization---- and you wiil be going back!" They called Max Larsen {the factory overseer} and begged for another chance for their son. -----------Well after 2 hours in Max's office telling him what a disapointment he was to his family, he left, the loneliest person on the planet. With another chance? "well you only got 3 years 6 months left".-------- I got problems of my own, I thought.------"You will know them ----by their love"-----------I along with everone at bethel-- KILLED James Olsen---with our APATHY-----I can still see his face as he walked out of my elevator.
• 

  White Dove

  It was the moment that I realized that the elders were putting rules ahead of the sheeps' needs and concerns (me and my kids) and expecting blind obedience, and was exactly what Jesus spoke against the Pharisees for doing.

  I knew then by applying the by this you will know them scripture that they were not chosen by God, or they had been abandoned by him.

  Clear as a bell. I felt no more obligation to them or Jehovah after that realization of about 5 minutes sitting in my car in the khall parking lot crying my eyes out.

  No one came to see what I was doing or how I was. I knew immediately.

  What did I do?

  I went to Michael's craft store, like a NORMAL person on a meeting night!

  What a relief! It felt so good.
• 

  saltyoldlady

  Wow - the suicide stories that Murray Smith and Was New Boy related really touched my heart. So very very tragic.

  For myself I think I realized almost from the start that things were not what they purported to be - it actually took me a long time to come into the outfit - 3 different studies spaced years apart over a ten year period - so actually I was dragging my feet from the start but I so wanted to believe that this WAS God's organization. I appreciated much of what I was learning and actually increased in my love of the Bible but the personal results I observed just never seemed to match the fruits that were supposed to result from our study and "form" of religious devotion. I think I always knew there was something wrong - some missing ingredient but I kept looking for it. And I wasn't just judging others but I was aware for myself this form of worship wasn't bringing the joy that should have been there. I tried hard to do everything "just so" but that didn't prove to be the solution. I studied like crazy. I prayed and prayed intensely from the heart and kept asking Jehovah, why? why? why? Something is missing - what is it? What can I do better? I kept trying to do MORE increasing my time in the field service, improving my preparation for the meetings, trying to give the "perfect" talks, trying to be a "know it all" on every Bible topic. (Yes - I was a royal pain in the neck to be around in those days - LOL.) I worked hard on being loving - of course I eventually discovered it doesn't work like that. When we accept Jesus Christ's love for us we don't have to work at being loving - it just starts pouring thru us. We start radiating God's love, not our own. And the harder I tried not to be judgmental the more judgmental I seemed to become.

  I think I could use the analogy here of my experience with music. I have studied both the violin and the piano - and am no great performer at either one, believe me. But one thing I have observed in both performing on a musical instrument and singing also - if I tried to execute a "perfect" performance I got up tight and nothing worked right. If I just steeped myself in the music itself letting it flood my soul with its expression it just flowed thru my fingers, bow or voice with ease. There is enjoyment and delight in just experiencing the music - trying to impress someone else with my skill DOES NOT work for me. It causes me to freeze up. At the doors trying to wow the householder with my knowledge of scriptures didn't give the desired results either but I put a lot of effort into that I hate to confess. But when I relaxed and just enjoyed the other person for themselves - tried to glean from them what they had to teach me about life - viola, I got Bible Studies. But if I tried to push them into my regimented objectives I lost them pronto. When I stepped away from WTS objectives and just let God do His thing with me I formed wonderful friendships and I GREW. But make WTS converts - nope, that didn't happen. I knew in my heart of hearts that wasn't going to be of any advantage to them and I couldn't paint the picture that was convincing - not even for myself. Instead I just kept learning more and more of why a person would do better to avoid this "straight jacket" of religiosity. I tried hard to be totally objective, honest and open-minded with all my students. And I saw people increase in their love for God, the Bible and Jesus Christ but not for WTS meetings or agenda's. That part was frustrating for me at first but I finally learned to just leave matters in God's Hands and He eventually rescued me in spite of myself. The ephiphany moment might have been discovering that Ray Franz was not "apostate" - that he really loved God and that he was an honest, humble, loving and kind human being being led by Jehovah's Holy Spirit. I discovered that on the internet reading a chapter of his book Crisis of Conscience - about 1914. It was an eye opener to realize he was a sane, rational, reasonable man - not a spiteful hater of Jehovah's people at all, simply a sincere searcher for truth. That was a WOW moment for me.

  It still took me 4 years after that time to finally get completely out and the final straw was the WTS responding to my research with "wait on the FDS when per their definition I was part of that FDS." When I saw that they made no effort to address all the problems I had presented them but just said "WAIT" the switch clicked off - I ain't waitin no more for this outfit. 100 plus years is more than enough patience for them to see the light. They DON'T WANT to see the light. There were many other areas of error too but the chronology issue was so Black and White - not a matter of anyone's interpretation of scripture. Rather it was a deliberate attempt to avoid the straight forward scriptural presentation the Good Word gave us and I wasn't the first to bring this to their attention in a painstaking and detailed manner. So from that point on it was a quick "good-bye" brothers - short and sweet.
• 

  Open mind

  Roughly 4 or 5 years ago giving a Service Meeting talk all about reinforcing how great the Shunning Arrangement is. I included my own experience of how hard it's been shunning my DFed brother all these years, but how it's really for the best.

  Got lots of kudos, hugs and handshakes afterwards.

  Then I woke up.

  om
• 

  Found Sheep

  oh lots of different eye openings... 1st a married elder hit on me and I felt like elders were next to God so I let him do as he pleased. I was in a bad marriage and was lonely and he took advantage of me, and I didn't flinch. I finally put my foot down. I ended my bad marriage and the complete lack of love from the congregation blew me away but at that time I felt I deserved being treated badly. I moved in with my Brother and SIL with 2 boys and had my 2nd epiphany. They were SO INTO JW and at that time in my life I needed space. They lectured me constantly and they had the BS in there home and there 3 year old son was wispering. My brother brought him to his room and put hot sauce in his mouth. At that second I thought I don't want to be like you! I will make my own decissions and I don't care if you agree. I left and spent 3 months in the ghetoes of NC. Prostitute next door drug dealer below me, illegals all over and felt safe. I decided to take 2 weeks off from meedings but never went back. I started to THINK. My brother is hopes to save me gave EVERYONE my cell phone number and elders and other brothers and sisters that havent spoken to me in years started to call and encourage me. One elder was giving me "encouragement" and I stopped him and said "I can't listen to this I have had so many opinions about what I should do with my life and I need to listen to ME" He seemed put off but i stopped answering my phone and told my brother if he gives it out again I will have the number changed and will not give it to you. Oh and my SIL was calling 8 10 times a day to ask how the meeding was or anything to see how I was "spiratualy" I stopped answering her calls too....

  this is too long sorry my bigest was 1/2 way through COC I looked up at my NON JW great hubby and just said "they are wrong"